MGM’s financial troubles may have grounded 007, but Daniel Craig isn’t slowing down for anyone.

The actor has just signed on to star as Mikael Blomkvist in Sony’s upcoming adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The deal will also see him reprise the role in The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest.

Dragon Tattoo has become an international bestseller as well as a literary sensation. The Swedish thrillers by the late Stieg Larsson have already been adapted into a successful trilogy of Swedish films, in which Michael Nyqvist played Blomkvist.

Deadline reports that just as soon as Craig wraps the Jon Favreau sci-fi mash-up Cowboys and Aliens he’ll head off to Sweden to begin filming. The deal required the studios behind Cowboys, Dragon and Bond to play nice, but these days everyone wants to keep the super-hot Craig happy.

Director David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) is set to helm the project. The director is reportedly still searching for the right actress to play Lisbeth Salander, the young woman at the heart of the novels.

Rumour has it Ellen Page, Mia Wasikowska and Natalie Portman are among the potential candidates for that role.

Sony recently announced plans to have Tattoo in theatres on December 21, 2011.